Chocolate Cherry Sunflower Seeds

Chocolate Cherry is a stunning annual sunflower with rich, velvety brownish-burgundy petals surrounding a dark chocolate center. These long-stemmed plants grow 6-8 feet tall and have multiple blooms that are perfect for cut flowers. Excellent for pollinator gardens too!

Planting by Zones

Zones 9-10

• Sunflowers can be grown year-round in Zones 9 and 10 but are the happiest in the warm season.

Zones 2-8

• Direct sow seeds in the spring once soils have warmed.

Planting Sunflower

• In Zones 9 and 10, you can direct seed or transplant out your sunflower plants. We recommend you direct seed into freshly irrigated soils.
• To direct sow, plant seeds in debris-free, well-worked soil that has been deeply watered. Cover with 1″ of finely sifted soil.
• If you are planting seeds in starter pots, plant seeds into thoroughly moist high-quality seed starting soil. Place seeds on top of the soil and cover with 1″ of finely sifted soil.
• Fertilize with an organic liquid fertilizer once your sunflowers have germinated and the first set of true leaves show. When the plants are 3-4″ tall, you can plant them out into the garden. Space at least 12″ apart.

Growing Sunflower

• Plant sunflowers into well-worked soils for the best blooms. Adding tons of compost in Zones 9 and 10 will help create a healthy soil structure and keep soil moistures in, which is key.
• Mulching heavily around your plants will also help with weed suppression and moisture retention.

Harvesting Sunflower

• Harvest sunflower blooms when the flowers are almost fully open.
• Harvest early in the morning and place blooms directly in a vase of room temperature water.

Growing Sunflower in Containers

• You can grow sunflower in a container but make sure your container is at least 10″ deep. Keep in mind containers will dry out faster because they have more surface area and less soil to hold onto moisture. Mulch heavily on the top layer of soil in the pot to keep the soil from drying out or heating up too much.

Southern California Pro-tips

• Mulch heavily around your sunflower plants to ensure the soil does not dry out or overheat.
• Do not overhead water as this promotes foliar diseases.

Companion Flowers/Crops

• Sunflowers look beautiful with other cut flowers like cosmos, zinnia, scabiosa, and strawflower.
• Plant Chocolate Cherry along with our Autumn Beauty and Sunflower Seed Mix sunflower seeds for a luscious display of warm colors.

Additional Learning Resources

• New to starting crops from seeds? Please watch our Seed Starting Presentation to learn the basics!
• Learn about growing all our crops on our YouTube page!
• Having pest issues? Check out in-depth information for pests that can be an issue to sunflowers at the UC Integrated Pest Management site.

Fill your garden with pollinator plants to attract beneficial insects like bees, moths, and butterflies. Learn more in our Pollinator Plants article.